Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-18
IELTS Writing Task 1 question
The graph below shows the number of tourists visiting a particular Caribbean island between 2010 and 2017.
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.
Student answer (Band 5.5)
The graph illustrates the number of tourists who visited a specific Caribean island from 2010 to 2017.
Overall, total number of visitors increased over the period, visitors stayed on cruise ships has increased, whereas those staying on island decreased at the end of the period in compare to visitors living on cruise ships.
In 2010, the total number of people visited caribean island were at 1 million, recording its lowest.The visitors expanded over the years and eventually reached to its highest figure of 3.5 million visitors of Island.
visitors who stayed on the cruies ship recorded the lowest number in 2010, at 0.25 million. then fluctuated next few years until 2013 and started to increase steadily. Surpassed the number of visitors staying on island in 2016 with 1.5 million figure. In contrast, the number of visitors who were staying on the island recorded the highest figure at 0.75 million and remained at the top until overtook by the number of visitors who stayed on the cruise ships.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The student successfully covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features, trends, and comparisons of the data. An overview is provided in the second paragraph, outlining the overall increase in total visitors and contrasting the trends between cruise ship and island-staying visitors. Key data points are selected and reported, such as the initial figures in 2010 and the peak in 2017. However, there are minor factual inaccuracies in the detail, such as stating that island-staying visitors 'recorded the highest figure at 0.75 million' in 2010 when the total was actually 1 million, and minor spelling errors like 'Caribean'. Despite these minor flaws, the task is well-addressed, fulfilling the requirements for a Band 6.5 to 7.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response has a clear overall arrangement with an introductory paragraph, an overview paragraph, and two body paragraphs detailing specific categories. Cohesive devices and referencing are sometimes faulty or mechanical, as seen in phrases like 'then fluctuated next few years' which lacks a subject, and awkward transitions between sentences. Paragraphing is attempted, but the logical progression within paragraphs is occasionally disrupted by abrupt shifts in focus and missing articles. While the structure is coherent overall, the mechanical use of cohesion and referencing errors place this text solidly in the Band 6 category.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'fluctuated', 'steadily', and 'surpassed'. However, there are notable word-choice, spelling, and collocation errors, including 'Caribean' (spelling), 'visitors of Island', 'cruies ship', and 'in compare to'. Some phrases are repetitive or awkwardly phrased, such as 'visitors stayed on cruise ships has increased'. The vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the message, but inaccuracies restrict the score to a Band 6.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response employs a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including relative clauses and contrastive structures. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in verb tense, article usage, and sentence structure, such as 'total number of visitors increased', 'visitors stayed on cruise ships has increased', and missing subjects like 'then fluctuated next few years'. Punctuation is basic, with a missing period or comma run-on issue ('0.25 million. then fluctuated'). Although these errors do not severely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the text from reaching a Band 6.5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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